Susan here, on the last day of January 2018 (already!), bringing you our WWR (What We're Reading) post. Contemporary, historical romance, a treasure trove of mysteries, an English king and a Renaissance giant -- the Wenches have discovered some truly great reads this month!

Pat says --

I still can’t tell if I enjoyed THE ART OF CRASH LANDING by Melissa DeCarlo or was just seriously annoyed with it—which means I really got into it and lived with it, which doesn’t happen often anymore. The protagonist is a hot mess. Her mother was worse. Her life’s screwed up, and then her grandmother dies and she runs off to see if she inherited anything--before even calling the lawyer. She continues to recklessly fling herself into life, other people’s lives, future lives, but with each futile leap, she learns a little more. The reader gets to watch as she opens up, just a little, to the possibility that there are other lives out there besides hers, that they’re as seriously messed up as she is, and maybe, just maybe, she might fix one small thing here and there. There’s a touch of romance, but mostly, this is a woman learning how to live and face the future instead of wallowing in guilt and self-loathing. I don’t think I’d like this woman if I met her, but she’s someone I wouldn’t hate by the end. If I made you curious, try it!

Mary Jo --

I've read several good books recently, but for the now, I'll just tell you about Emily Larkin's Trusting Miss Trentham-- #3 in the Baleful Godmother historical series, it features Letty Trentham, a plain woman who is the greatest heiress in England, and has been gifted with the ability to tell truth from lies every time. Since she's an heiress, this is useful--she's turned down almost 200 proposals because no matter what they say, she knows they're lying and only interested in her fortune.

Then one night at a ball, after she's turned down one proposal, she's approached by gaunt, haunted Major Icarus Reid, recently out of the army, and needing her help to find which of two English officers betrayed secret information that led to the French ambushing Reid's scouting party in Portugal. Four young men died, and Reid was broken in deep emotional ways. He wants to see justice done so he can die in peace, and he needs Letty's help to find the liar.

Letty weighs the cost to her reputation against the lives of four men who were needlessly slaughtered, and says yes. This leads the two of them on a colorful journey across country, and a relationship that develops in unusual and fascinating ways. Well worth reading!

What have the Wenches been reading, or what are they looking forward to reading in December? Pull up a comfy chair by the fire and find out!

Nicola here:

I haven’t really got into my Christmas reading as yet despite the fact that there are Christmas books all around! At the moment I’m glomming on The Royal Wedding Invitations series, which features books by some of my favourite HMB authors including Sophie Weston, Jessica Hart and Liz Fielding. I’m such a sucker for a royal wedding story and this is a gorgeous series!

However, I have started to get into the Christmas spirit with a novella by Jane Lovering called Christmas at the Little Village School. It’s wonderfully warm, funny and uplifting, it’s out on 12th December but up for pre-order now and I loved it!

Anne here, hosting our regular monthly feature, What We're Reading, where the wenches and readers talk about the books they've read and enjoyed in the last month.

We start with Pat Rice talking about Sherry Thomas's A Study in Scarlet Women.Pat says: I have always adored Sherry Thomas’s writing, and of course, I cut my teeth on Sherlock Holmes mysteries, so the combination of Sherry Thomas writing about a female Sherlock Holmes was just too tempting. Other than the contrived ending to the mystery —and let’s face it, Sherlock was the King of Contrived—the book is absolutely delicious.

I can’t reveal the shocking opening, but let us say that Charlotte Holmes is a woman of strong spine and beliefs as well as a brilliant mind and regrettably insufficient human experience. There are rough similarities to the Conan Doyle stories, if only in name, but no real attempt to duplicate the other characters. Which is provident, because that leaves room for Charlotte’s enigmatic love interest—a married man who behaves with prudence and respect and is an altogether wonderful hero in his own right.

This isn’t a romance, by any means, but having an unrequited love makes her just a little more human. Highly recommended! (and the next in the series is just out!)

Nicola is next. She says:Whether it was going to see the JaneAusten exhibition in Oxford or all the recent chat there has been in my RNA chapter about Austen’s books, I was inspired to pick up (again) Jane Austen Made Me Do It, the anthology inspired by Jane, her life and her writing. I love the way all the authors in the collection put such a clever and individual spin on their source material and being such a fan of the great Jo Beverley, I particularly enjoyed her lovely story Jane and the Mistletoe Kiss which made me feel very Christmassy!

Joanna here: Season of Mists and Yellow Fruitfulness it may be, but I'm not getting ANY reading done. You will have heard this excuse before many times. I think I may be the least readingest of all the Wenches. I'm rereading the Lymond Chronicles of Dorothy Dunnett. I'm embarked on the Game of Kings just at the moment. Rereading it is very different from reading it for the first time which was full of "Wow. I want to write that," but also a good bit of "What?" "Huh?" Also beginning and not yet very far into The Natural History of Dragons, of which you have heard other Wenches speak. I'm enjoying it.

Here's what Nicola has to say:

I came back from the Romantic Novelists’ Association conference buzzing with ideas and weighed down with a pile of fabulous books I am now reading my way through. First was Here’s To Us by Elin Hilderbrand. I hadn’t come across her books before; here in the UK they aren’t as well-known as in the US but I am so glad I have found her because I didn’t want to put the book down. I loved the exploration of complicated family relationships, the twists, the tensions and the resolutions. I loved the characters and the way that they interacted and found the writing style so crisp and clear. Even more I loved her descriptions of Nantucket which were so rich and vivid that I felt as though I was there! I’m on the hunt for her other books now.

Next I picked up Midsummer Dreams by Alison May. It’s a clever re-imagining of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in a contemporary setting. I’m only part of the way through but I am really enjoying the way that Alison has created characters who feel real and warm and alive. It’s funny and poignant and she really pins down the emotional conflicts. As it’s one of a series inspired by Shakespeare I can see myself reading the whole lot!

The story is about a man, Jean Perdu, who runs a bookshop— or what he calls 'a literary apothecary' in a lovely old restored barge on the Seine River in Paris. Jean has a gift for finding just the right book for each customer, a balm for what ails you. He can heal anyone except himself—he's locked in a frozen past (Perdu is French for 'lost')—until a new person arrives in his apartment complex and Jean's frozen present begins to develop cracks. What follows is an adventure of the heart — but be aware, this not genre romance.

I savored it and, having read a lot of books, enjoyed recognizing the various titles Jean offered his customers. I loved the setting and the layered intrigue of the characters. It's an international best-seller. I bought it as an e-book, but I'm buying the paper version, as it's a keeper. As Library Journal (who gave it one of their coveted starred reviews) said "if ever a book was meant to be read over and over, this gem is it.”

Kylie Scott is famous for her gritty rock star series, but this is a new area for her — YA (Young Adult.) TRUST has only been out for a week or two, but it already has several hundred reviews. I devoured it in a night.

Kylie Scott has a gift for putting two fairly ordinary young people in an extraordinary situation, and then showing them learn to cope, and grow stronger from the experience. She has a deep understanding of the pressures and conflict that young people today have to deal with. TRUST is a coming-of-age story, and also a romance. Highly recommended.

I think I picked this up from a wenchly recommendation. Life in a small English village during WW2, when normal village life is challenged and disrupted and people discover new talents and strengths in themselves. I enjoyed it very much.

Andrea/Cara has two books for us, one by a fellow Wench:

I was so happy to receive my copy of Nicola’s The Phantom Tree from Book Depository recently. (It’s not yet out in the U.S. but Book Depository has free shipping worldwide so you to can snatch it up—which I highly recommend!) It’s a riveting time slip story, with the action moving back and forth between Elizabethan England and the present day. The plot revolves around the heroine seeing a small portrait in a modern-day antique shop that's just created a news buzz by being identified as a lost-lost painting of Anne Boleyn. But the heroine knows that’s wrong . . .

I’m not all that familiar with Tudor times, so I loved learning about the intricate politics and family connections as well as aspects of everyday life. The writing is beautifully evocative—the manor homes like Wolf Hall and the surrounding countryside come brilliantly alive. And the characterizations are richly nuanced, both with the actual historical figures and how they entwine with the fictional ones. Nicola creates a wonderfully provocative “what-if” story for Mary Seymour, who in real life was presumed to have died in childhood. I don’t want to give away too much of the mystery twists . . . But add to the plot the heroine’s former flame, a dishy modern historian who has his own hit TV show, and things heat up as they delve deeper into the mystery of the portrait—which brings about some other surprising revelations! It’s a wonderfully layered and engaging story, and I was up until the wee hours of the morning finishing it because I just couldn’t put it down!

On a very different note, I also enjoyed My Life With Bob, whose subtitle is: Flawed Heroine Keeps Book of Books, Plot Ensues. It’s part memoir, part musing on books by by Pamela Paul, the editor of the New York Times Book Review. As a shy, introverted high school student, she started to keep a notebook of every book she read, and over the last 28 years, she's kept it up, hauling the tattered volume around the world with her as she goes on life’s journeys, both physically and metaphorically. I like the way the official blurb describes it: "It’s about the deep and powerful relationship between book and reader . . . It’s about why we read what we read and how those choices make us who we are. It’s about how we make our own stories.” There are times when she gets a little too self-consciously precious, but on the whole, it’s a fun, provocative read about how books shape our lives, providing solace, inspiration, escape, and often a prod to be better than we think we can be. And really, who among our Wench family here can resist a book about books!

So, what are you reading lately that delights, surprises, moves or intrigues you?

I can't remember where I saw someone ask the question above, but I immediately thought how delightful the question would be for a monthly Ask A Wench topic. And indeed, the Word Wench answers are varied and fun. I did suggest that we didn't need to mention books by Mary Stewart and Georgette Heyer, which are pretty much a given in this crowd, but they did manage to sneak in. <G>

Pat Rice

I’m not entirely certain I can fully recreate the wonder of reading some books for the first time when the difference in experience is so enormous between then and now. I read Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice for the first time when I was nine years old. I still savor the joy in finding Real Books instead of the insipid garbage in the school library. Today—aging Britlit, even reading for the first time, would hardly be as engrossing.

What about Catch 22 or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? I was in awe of those as a freshman in college. They’re so brilliant, I might still experience some of the awe, and my cynicism now and then would still enjoy it. But after seeing the movies? Maybe not so much.

And I know many tomes don’t hold up to my more jaded eyes these days. I soaked up Woodiwiss’s Flame and the Flower as if I were a thirsty sponge back in the 70’s, but now? Please. Neither the story or writing would meet my standards today. I think experience impedes my enjoyment of most books these days. I’ll spend a few quiet hours of pleasure, but they’ll never reach the awestruck standards of those earlier books.

Mary Jo here, and as always, the Word Wenches are reading diverse and wonderful things!

First up is Nicola Cornick:

This month I’ve been reading The Silent Fountain by Victoria Fox. It’s dual time frame novel set in the present day and in the 1970s (which seems almost contemporary to someone my age!) and spans London, Tuscany and Hollywood. Victoria Fox is better known for her blockbusters in the style of Jackie Collins and this is something completely different from her. It’s being described as a gothic suspense novel like Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca and it certainly has some dark overtones, but I loved it for the atmospheric descriptions and the beautiful writing. Victoria really does write with such elegance and style; it’s a joy to read.

The Silent Fountain is a big, deep novel about secrets and relationships. There is love and romance, of course – a book usually needs to have those elements to hook me – but also mystery, drama, suspense… A fabulous read if you like books that entwine two complex and fascinating story threads. At the moment The Silent Fountain is only available in the UK but it is published in the US by MIRA in October.

Anne here, reporting on what some of the wenches have been reading during the month of February. I say "some of the wenches" because several of us are storming towards an imminent deadline. And this month we have a lovely mixed bag for you — non-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, alternate reality, historical and contemporaries.

We start with Andrea/Cara.This month my reading has been about heroines, though in very different contexts . . . First off, was Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly, the inspiring story of the Black women mathematicians who played such a critical—yet unsung—part in not only the U.S. Mercury and Apollo Space programs, but also in the aeronautic innovations that helped win WWII. It’s a truly amazing panorama, with heartwarming (and heartbreaking) stories of the individual women who faced the dual prejudices of race and gender but ultimately triumphed in pursuing their dreams of fulfilling their remarkable talents through courage, grace, grit and the sheer force of their brilliance.

But it’s not simply a story of brilliant women. The author paints an eye-opening portrait of segregation in the South, and how the black communities banded together to create a whole network of opportunities in business and education which allowed them to excel and achieve despite all the obstacles in their way. It’s one of the most moving books I’ve read in a long time. It ought to be required reading in schools, for it tells a story in American history that’s been hidden for far too long. (The movie is wonderful, too—I highly recommend it!)

Andrea/Cara here, with our first report on what we've been reading in the new year. As usual, it's an eclectic array of genres with a variety of voices. So without further ado, let's look inside the covers!

Pat:Just like the title, Just One Damned Thing After Another (Book 1-The Chronicles of St Mary’s) by Jodi Taylor, is fast-paced, action-oriented, and smart-mouthed. And funny. And horrible. And amazingly well-written and a treat for history nerds. The book is about historians. Who knew historians were a laugh-a-minute kind of tribe? Well, when they’re always living on the brink of extinction and everyone around them is dying, one has to find some way of facing the day, I guess. This is not for the weak of heart, but it does have a lovely, dry romance, several, in fact. And a whole lot of people die, some of them in a literal sh*t storm. But the historians are desperately seeking to save history, and I can relate. The first half of the book is actually a slow world-building hill so you can settle in comfortably. After that, all bets are off. I will admit, after a while, I skimmed the battle scenes just as I skim the sex scenes in romance, but I was well-satisfied just the same. For the adventurous among us!

And for a totally different change of pace in this horrid political season, how about uproarious political satire—although in this case, it’s more like judicial satire. In No Way To Treat A First Lady by Christopher Buckley, the First Lady is accused of assassinating the president by beaning him with a Paul Revere spittoon. Does that give you an idea of the humor? The amazingly fun part of this book is that every time the reader thinks s/he has a grasp of the story, the author turns the whole thing on its head and spins off in another hilarious direction. The ending is totally satisfying.

Mary Jo:I’ve really been enjoying The Innkeeper Series by Ilona Andrews. Ilona Andrews is actually a husband and wife team that writes several very successful urban fantasy series. The Innkeeper books were more of a play project, with Ilona writing chapters of the story and posting them on her blog for her fans to read. At the end of the novel, she edited them and published the result as an e-book.

The holiday season is a busy time, but the Wenches never stop reading! Here are some books we've enjoyed recently.

From Pat Rice:

For over-the-top emotion and a well-written circus that would make a perfect Bollywood film, try A BOLLYWOOD AFFAIR by Sonali Dev. Strictly speaking, this is women’s fiction, but it’s also Bollywood, so you know among the tragedy and unrequited love is a happy ending.

We have the intrepid young woman from India, married at the age of five but never having met her husband after the wedding day, who fights all odds to gain a short grant to an American university in hopes that will impress and bring home her man. She’s been obedient, grateful, and hard-working as she’s been taught in her backwoods town. She probably would have remained so had she not met her husband’s brother—a rakehell Bollywood screenwriter and producer. He brings out the best and worst in her in a star-crossed romance if there ever was one. You’ll need a strong cup of coffee to go with the sugar, but it’s fun and entertaining and I’d love to see the scenes depicted.

Anne Gracie has struck chocolate!:

I've had a bit of a glom on Laura Florand's "Love & Chocolate" books. Set in modern day Paris, each hero is a French chocolatier — a maker of exquisite boutique chocolate, and most of the heroines are American girls. I was particularly recommended the second book in the series, THE CHOCOLATE KISS, but I decided to start with the first one and work through the series. I found books 2, 3 and 4 especially yummy. Each book can be read independently, though there is some connection between them.

I also read Liane Moriaty's BIG LITTLE LIES, which I thought was wonderful -- clever and engaging -- it's a mystery of sorts, and the reader has to work out what's happening. And without spoilers, I have to say it ends well — and with a romance.

Finally I read Mary Balogh's latest, SOMEONE TO LOVE which I devoured in one sitting. The heroine is a teacher in the orphanage where she was raised and, like all orphans, she dreams of discovering her origins and finding a family. But when her dream comes true, it comes at a terrible cost. It's the first in a new series, and I can't wait for the next.

From Andrea/Cara

This has been a mystery month for me, as my favorite historical mystery writer had a new recent release. I’m a huge fan of Charles Finch and his Charles Lenox series, set in Victorian England. THE INHERITANCE is no exception. An old school friend has learned he’s been left a fortune by a mysterious benefactor, but someone seems intent on killing him before the legalities are worked out. He appeals to Lenox for help, and then the plots twists which begin are worthy of a Wilkie Collins classic! I find Lenox such an appealing hero. By all outward signs, he's a paragon of propriety. He’s done all the right things in life that an aristocratic younger son should do—Harrow, Oxford, a place in Parliament. He’s thoughtful, sensitive, and the very soul of honor, a man well-liked and well-respected by all his friends.

His only quirk is that he loves solving crimes. It bemuses him at times, as he considers himself a very orthodox fellow. And yet, he has a passion for it, and a very-unordinary talent for sussing out the truth. Finch writes in a very quiet, graceful style, yet his observations on human nature are so spot on. And the lovely cast of characters that have developed over the series are so engaging. If you’re looking to curl up on a winter evening with a ripping good yarn, beautiful writing and appealing characters, I highly recommend a Finch book. (The first in the series is A Beautiful Blue Death,)

Nicola here.

Whilst away in Wales for a week I have been catching up on some previous WWR recommendations. First up was Ammie Come Home by Barbara Michaels which had been mentioned as part of our Halloween reads in October. Whilst I found some of it "of its time," I appreciate that it was written in the 1960s and it is still a seriously spooky story. Reading it by candlelight in a cottage in Wales (the power had gone off in a storm!) was extremely atmospheric. I loved the characterisation and also the historical story behind the ghost story.

I also read Unmasking Miss Appleby by Emily Larkin, who was Anne's guest on the blog a few weeks ago. I adored this book and found it really hard to put down. I loved the way that Emily mixed the historical and paranormal details so easily and convincingly, plus it was a wonderful love story.

From Mary Jo:

I've loved Sharon Shinn's Elemental Blessings series, and the recently released fourth, UNQUIET LAND is no exception. Shinn's world building is wonderful and her kingdom of Welce is rich and fascinating. All Welchins are attuned to one of five elements: water, fire, air, earth, and wood, and in the hours after their birth, three blessings are drawn for them by strangers. These blessing resonate through their lives, though people also pull blessings for daily guidance. Each of the elements has a prime who has great power over his or her element, and each book has a strong romance.

In Unquiet Land, the heroine is Leah Frothen, who was an important secondary character in the previous book, Jeweled Fire. A disastrous love affair drove her from Welce, leaving her baby daughter to be raised by relatives. Leah becomes a spy for her country and thinks she'll never return home, but at the end of Jeweled Fire, she was sailing back to Welce and hoping desperately that she can connect with the daughter she has always loved.

Life back in Welce becomes complicated as she is recruited to spy on foreign visitors while she attempts to build a relationship with her daughter. Most important of all, Leah must come to terms with the pain and errors of her past--and with falling in love. A great read.

For something completely different, try the Caught Dead in Wyoming mystery series by my friend Patricia McLinn/. Pat and I were both long term members of the Washington Romance Writers so I've known her for years. She has a degree in journalism from Northwestern and has had a long and successful career as a journalist, including many years at the Washington Post.

She's now a full time writer and has branched out beyond romance, but her journalistic past is what makes this mystery series so convincing. I'll use her description of the premise:

Elizabeth “E.M.” Danniher has been among TV journalism’s elite. Until she discovers divorcing her network exec husband ends not only her marriage but her career. She’s been banished to tiny KWMT-TV in Sherman, Wyoming, to finish out her contract as the underemployed consumer affairs reporter.

Now she’s trying to figure out what comes next – in her career, her life, and her relationships with family, friends, and those who’d like to be more than friends.

And since this is a mystery series, dead bodies keep turning up. <G>

I love the absolutely authentic feel of the newsroom and the journalists, plus Elizabeth's recognition that she's not in Kansas anymore. <G> The first book in the series, SIGN OFF, is free, and that did its job because I bought book 2, Left Hanging, as soon as I finished book 1. I'm looking forward to more books as Elizabeth searches for her new life, befriends a wary "ranch collie," and learns way more than she wanted to know about rope. <G> I'd classify the series as "Western cozy," and they're great fun.

Andrea/Cara here, Ho-Ho-Ho! Now that we spooked you with scary reads on Monday, we’re following up with a sleighful of good cheer. November signals the start (earlier and earlier it seems!) of the end-of-year holiday. And while all the celebrating with family and friends is wonderful, there are times when one simply wants to escape from the hustle and bustle and enjoy a few hours of quiet reading. With that in mind, we decided to showcase the Wenchly Christmas-themed books to spark smiles and good cheer. So get ready to curl up with a cup of hot cocoa and plate of cookies . . .

Pat:Incomparable Lord Meath (A Novella) Christmas in IrelandPenniless spinster Honora Hoyt has carved a safe niche in London society as her noble uncle’s hostess —until an old flame re-enters her life, threatening her hard-earned security. Evan, Lord Meath, abandoned his pampered life—and Honora—after a reckless gamble left him lame and disillusioned. Now he’s hoping to perform a good deed for once—but here’s Honora again, desirable, maddening, and in the way. It looks like he’s about to wreck his good intentions, and Honora’s too. Again. In the season of peace, can they resolve their conflicts and find the joy and love that each secretly craves?Original Novella Rebellious Sons prequel $2.99Christmas Enchantment anthology Three heartwarming Regency holiday romances in one joyful book.Christmas Angel: Marian had no intention of starting something new. Taking care of family and helping a once prosperous town survive was all she had in mind after the tragic death of her fiancé. Then a stranger with a heavy heart from America unexpectedly arrived. Maybe this will be the Christmas they both need - with a gift that lasts forever.

Christmas Goose : The spoiled child of a rich baron, Rebecca left that world for love. But, her husband died in the war. Now she finds herself taking care of his young sisters, removed from the grace of her prosperous father. Simon feels his life is a failure. The war took his soul and he longs for a new beginning. Even the battles of war haven't prepared him for the battle for the hand of the feisty woman he's come to love.

Tin Angel : Jeffrey fought the good fight in the halls of government but comes home exasperated at life, law, family and love. Much to his dismay, the visit from a guardian angel (in whom he does not believe) leads him to question his sanity. Mary’s bright humor and sarcastic jabs give him something he’s never experienced - a way to look beyond himself and into the world again. Could she be the key that opens that last door at Christmas?(Anthology of stories originally contained in Signet Regency Christmas collections $4.99)

Hallowe’en is drawing nigh, "whare ghaists and houlets nightly cry" (thanks, Robert Burns!) -- so for our October What-We're-Reading post, we Wenches are sharing some favorite ghostly and paranormal stories.

Classics, cozy mysteries, romance, fantasy, paranormal, scholarly and tales of real ghostly encounters . . . haunted houses, ghosties and beasties – we’ve included some downright spooky fun in the following picks. So if you’re not too busy answering the door and tossing treats to little witches, vampires, superheroes, butterflies and fairy princesses – and if you're in the mood for a Halloween thrill -- check out some of these great reads!

Andrea Pickens/Cara Elliott

I confess that I don’t read horror, or much paranormal, so am woefully ill-equipped to offer any first-hand recommendations for Halloween reads. What can I say—the genre just doesn’t tickle my fancy. However, I did spot this intriguing-looking book. Haunted—On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds is just the type of take on the subject that I’d find appealing, and so have put it on my TBR pile. Here’s the blurb: “An award-winning scholar and author charts four hundred years of monsters and how they reflect the culture that created them.”

Patricia Rice

I love paranormals as long as they’re light and not filled with violence. I cannot begin to name all the series I scarf down, many of which I’ve mentioned before. The ones that leap to mind immediately are Ilona Andrews’ Innkeeper Chronicles where you can have everything from ghosts to aliens, Juliet Blackwell’s Witchcraft Mysteries where the heroine is a witch who keeps bumping into things in the night, and of course Darynda Jones’ Charley Davidson series which is a tour-de-force of humor and sexiness and a heroine who is the passage between earth and heaven. Then there’s Angie Fox, who can inject humor into anything from biker granny witches to southern spirits, just choose your preferred creature:

Nicola here. It’s the end of September and as usual we’re doing our round up of Wench reading for the month and asking you to recommend some more books for our towering TBR piles! One of the things I love about the What We’re Reading feature is that the recommendations always inspire and enthuse me. It’s lovely to hear people sharing their suggestions with such pleasure! As the nights grow longer here in the UK and the evenings are cool it’s the most perfect time to curl up in front of the woodburning stove. Maybe that’s why the first book I’m talking about this month is called Into the Fire. It’s a dual time story set in the present and the fifteenth century, involving the story of Joan of Arc. Into the Fire is a thriller and I found I was equally engaged with the modern parts of the story as I was with the engrossing mystery surrounding Joan. This book is really compelling. I could not put it down.

With a book (over)due and the clock audibly ticking, my own reading has been limited to documents specific to my research (Montcalm’s correspondence, anyone?). Thankfully, the other Wenches have been picking up the slack:

Mary Jo:

...is in crazed deadline mode, which means she's reading only old favorites, and research books. Anyone with a taste for learning more about the 1814 burning of Washington and the Battle of Baltimore might want to start with Walter Lord's classic The Dawn's Early Light, or the more recent Through the Perilous Fight by Steve Vogel. If you really want nitty-gritty details, go for The Rockets' Red Glare by Fort McHenry park ranger Scott S. Sheads. Yes, for this subject matter, no one can resist choosing titles from "The Star-Spangled Banner!"

Our monthly round-up of favorite reads for the summer months, or winter if you're down-under, plus a few movies to help us through the extreme weather.

Mary Jo:

As an antidote to the high summer heat and humidity that have settled over Maryland, we recently watched Where Eagles Dare, a 1968 action movie set in World War II. I first saw it many years ago, and I've seen it once or twice since, but not recently, and I was curious about how well it's held up. (This because we'd recently watched another WWII movie from the same era and it was pretty bad.)

But Where Eagles Dare still rocks! Based on a novel and screenplay by Alistair MacLean, a favorite author of mine for many years, it's fast paced and full of twists and turns. It features a very handsome and enigmatic Richard Burton, a very young and very deadly Clint Eastwood, and Mary Ure, Burton's love interest and fellow agent, a woman who is as skilled with a machine gun as Clint.

The plot has a group of British commandos going to a Nazi mountain fortress to rescue an American general who knows the D-Day plans, and they have to get him out before the information can be tortured out of him. Eastwood is an American Army Ranger who is along for reasons that become clear at the end (when he says something to the effect of 'next time you Brits have a party like this, don't invite me.' <G>)

But what really makes this movie so suitable for summer viewing is the setting. The Schloss Adler is on a mountaintop in Southern Bavaria in deep winter with snow, ice, and biting winds galore. The only access by cable car sailing high above the icy slopes. Delightful! Recommended for all heat waves. <G>

Nicola:

I've been reading a lovely book called The Giants Look Downby Sonja Price. It's a first novel and is one of the most original and interesting books I've picked up in a while. The heroine, Jaya, born in Kashmir, is determined to be a doctor like her father but a devastating natural disaster robs her of her family and her future. The scene then shifts to Scotland as she embarks on a new life. Both the scenes set in Kashmir and Scotland are beautifully and evocatively described, and the Kashmiri background in particular is unusual and fascinating. Jaya is a lovely heroine and I was rooting for her to succeed against all the odds. It's a fabulous debut book.

I was also lucky enough to pick up a pile of books at the Romantic Novelists' Association conference last week and can't wait to dive into them! One of them, The Cornish Houseby Liz Fenwick, is perfect summer reading, with a heroine taking on an old cottage and discovering the secrets it has held for generations. I love Cornwall and Liz's books are so evocative that I can imagine I'm sitting in a rocky cove, gazing out over the sea!

Andrea/Cara:

I’ve been reading The Eye of the Beholder: Johannes Vermeer, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, and the Reinvention of Seeing, which is absolutely fascinating. It’s just the sort of non-fiction I love, as it weaves together important specific discoveries and personalities with an overview of the world and society at the time. The author, Laura J. Snyder, has also written another book I enjoyed (The Philosophical Breakfast Club, which is about the men who changed science in England) I think she’s both an elegant writer and a lively storyteller—something that doesn’t always go hand in hand in non-fiction.

This book is a wonderfully provocative exploration of art and science—Leewenhoek invented the microscope and Vermeer pioneered the use of optics in art (it’s thought he used a camera obscura in creating his luminous paintings.) The 1600s was the height of the Scientific Revolution, where empirical observation became the rallying cry for all those interested in understanding the world around them. She talks not only about how lenses helped see the world in a way the naked eye can't perceive, but also why Holland became a hotbed for creativity in art and science. It was a truly “eye-opening” book, and I highly recommend it!

Pat:

I’ve been reading a lot of women’s fiction and mysteries lately. So I picked up Swimsuit Body, A Cypress Bay Mystery, by Eileen Goudge through Netgalley because I enjoy Goudge’s writing and it seemed to be a lovely combination of both. Although this is labeled a mystery, it’s so much more: a travelogue of the northern California coast, a tongue-in-cheek satire on Hollywood, and a wonderful insight into friends, small towns, and alcoholism. The solution to the mystery is in her well-drawn characters more than forensic evidence, a fact I appreciate. And while the heroine is a little too bold at times, she’s always smart, and she doesn’t pull her punches when it comes time for someone to pay. I loved the fabulously strong writing.

Susan:

It's turning out to be a busy summer, so the reading hours have been fewer than I like! Currently I'm reading Death in the English Countryside by Sara Rosett - an English cozy set in a cozy English village, with twists. American Kate Sharp is a film location scout and her company is helping to set up a new production of Pride and Prejudice. Kate--a huge fan of anything Austen--goes over to England not to look for settings this time--but to find her boss, who has inexplicably disappeared. She follows a very interesting trail of clues - why he's vanished, what became of him, who's responsible - that takes her around the English countryside and into nooks and crannies of village life far more mysterious than she anticipated. Well written, with likable characters, a setting that beautifully evokes the heart of England, good pacing and a smart mystery that keeps you guessing, this is a good mystery, the start of a series. I'll definitely return for more.

Joanna:

It’s been hot and it’s been hectic this month. I feel very ambition-less.

I’m reading Jim Butcher’s Fool Moonwhich is Book Two of the Dresden Files. This is the werewolf book. I may possibly have read this one before, or maybe I saw it on the TV show. In any case, the series is always an exciting read and this is turning out to be one of my favorites.

Dresden is sturdily, doggedly idealistic. He’s a take-the-punch-and-roll-with-it-and-get-back-up type. I admire such folks. I want to write characters like that.

I also rewatched all the Dresden file TV series because I was reading the book so I am just filled to the gills with Jim Butcher. Nice.

Moving along to a second series book from a favorite author. I seem to be playing it safe this month.

Elizabeth Peters is an old, reliable favorite. I’ve moved right along in her Amelia Peabody books, (reading them very slowly as great treats,) and have now arrived at He Shall Thunder in the Sky. Ramses is a young man, now. For philosophical reasons he’s not joining the army to fight in the trenches in World War I -- not a popular choice in Cairo. Is he doing his part another way ...?

(no SPOILERS here ...)

Anne:

I've also been reading cosy mysteries -- the Toni Diamond series are by Nancy Warren. Set in the South, the protagonist is Toni Diamond, an ambitious make-up "home saleswoman" for the "Lady Bianca" cosmetic company. As the blurb for the first book says "Imagine Columbo in a lavender suit, with fake diamonds and big hair. The first story—and the first murder—takes place at a Lady Bianca convention, where consultants from all over the US gather.I loved these books -- there are four so far and I'm waiting for more. They're clever, warm-hearted, funny (I had a number of laugh-out-loud moments), sharply observed and very entertaining. The murders are ingenious, the characterization is delightful, and there's even a sexy detective and a blossoming romance. Highly recommended. And the first book, Frosted Shadow, is free.

I've also been reading more in the Liaden Universe series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (science fiction) and am continuing Jennifer Ashley's Shifter series.

And now we open the floor to our readers. Tell us what you've been enjoying this summer! We're always eager...hungry...for new books to devour!

I’m a sucker for historical mysteries, especially ones that ihave arcane books involved in the plot. So when I happened to read a blurb on this, I couldn’t resist. But before I go on, I have a confession to make: I’ve been madly scrambling to finish a project, so haven’t had quite as much time for reading as usual. So I’m not all that far along in this book, but am liking it enough to recommend it.

The Burnable Book. Here’s the lead blurb on the cover flap: In Chaucer's London, betrayal, murder, royal intrigue, mystery, and dangerous politics swirl around the existence of a prophetic book that foretells the deaths of England's kings.

Maybe you can see right away why I was hooked. The author, Bruce Holsinger, is a professor of Medieval History, and already the ambiance of London—from the court intrigues to the stews—is really well-done. The style is a little edgy, but I’m liking the main protagonist a lot. A friend of Geoffrey Chaucer, and fellow poet, John Gower has been asked to find a stolen book that may bring down the monarchy. If you’re looking to immerse yourself in London of Richard II, come join me in turning the pages!

And, with a wonderful, comforting set of books, Mary Jo:

When I'm deep into writing a new book, I often reread comfort books because I know I'll enjoy them and there isn't the stress of hunting down new books and maybe not finding something I like. So--currently rereading Jayne Ann Krentz romantic suspense novels. I love her Arcane series, where characters have paranormal, psychic type abilities that are both blessing and curse. WHITE LIES is a particular favorite, where the heroine can always tell if someone is lying. This is a decidedly mixed blessing. <G>

But my current reread is the Dark Legacy duo, COPPER BEACH and DREAM EYES. JAK seldom does families, but the heroes of these two books are brothers, which is fun. Sam Coppersmith, hero of Copper Beach, is the lab guy who is a genius at manipulating crystal energy. When paranormal book finder Abby Radwell needs help, she is sent to him and sparks fly. Quite literally. <G>

Just a month ago Jo was still with us, and she’ll always be in our hearts — and “we will always have a part of Jo with us in her wonderful books,” as Wench Andrea/Cara recently said.

Jo wrote well over forty books and novellas, and we’ve each chosen our “favorites”—a word that loosely applies here. Choosing one or two over others wasn’t easy, but in the end the titles we picked all hold special meaning and resonance for each one of us. Some of us chose the same book. “Great minds and all that,” says Wench Joanna, “but see how differently we talk about it. A book is a collaboration between author and reader,” and the way we may respond to story and characters, and how we absorb and interpret a book, can be unique.

Recently, Jo's son Jonathan took this wonderful photo of his mother's many books--and her glittering collection of RITA awards.

Mary Jo PutneySo what is my favorite Jo Beverley book? This could be a difficult question. How about the stunning My Lady Notorious, first in the Malloren Series? Or how about Lady Beware, because of my unnatural fondness for Darien? Or her most recent, The Viscount Needs a Wife, which is subtle, original, and an overall delight?

And yet the choice turned out to be easy: Emily and the Dark Angel.It's one of her early traditional Regencies. It might have been the first book of hers that I read. It might have won the first (of five!) of her RITAs. Those details I don't remember.

What I do remember is that it is everything a Regency should be: beautifully written, rich with carefully woven historical detail, and superbly characterized, it is one of the best handsome rake/plain heroine books ever. Set in Melton Mowbray, the fashionable fox hunting capital of Regency society, the book features Emily Grantwich, a sensible twenty-six year old who is firmly on the shelf. She competently runs the family estate owned by her invalid father, and enjoys the challenges.

Verderan, the Dark Angel, is a notorious rake who inherits the adjoining estate--and proves that a man must be very charming to make a good rake! The growing relationship between them is both convincing and romantic--and just reading about the book made me pull one of my two copies off the keeper shelf because it's time for a re-read!

Joanna BourneI went along my keeper shelf, looking at the old friends. It was pick one up and say, "Oh, yes. That's my favorite." Then I'd see the next one and open it and think, "No. This one is the best."

I sat dithering between Secrets of the Night, (so sensual), and An Arranged Marriage. (Oh, Nicholas. How could I NOT choose you?) And finally settled on An Unwilling Bride. The privileged heir of an aristocratic house ​and a prickly, radical schoolmistress are forced into marriage. There's resentment and distrust from the start and a chasm of social inequality that causes misunderstanding after misunderstanding. Not the ingredients of a happy life together.

Many of Jo's books are about the needs and desires of strong men and women confronting the rigid, hierarchical society in which they live. This is the boundary she continually explores. An Unwilling Bride is this conflict in almost pure form. It's the meticulous picking apart of the assumptions and attitudes of Beth and Lucien, two complex people who are so Georgian we believe in them utterly and so universally human that our hearts ache for them.

I love the gradual coming together of Beth and Lucien. I see them working at the relationship, deliberately uncovering their vulnerabilities, being honest. Kindliness and goodwill are as important as desire. I like that. I like to see friendship growing up beside love.

What's special about Jo's work is not that she gets the historical clothing and countryside and forms of address correct. Though she does. Nobody does it better. It's the strong, honorable people. She gets the people right.

Andrea Pickens/Cara Elliott What can I say? Trying to pick a favorite Jo Beverley book is like trying to pick a favorite vintage champagne—each has its own uniquely nuanced taste, hue and effervescence but they all possess a brilliant sparkle and leave you feeling blissfully intoxicated! Jo was a master at creating compelling characters whose conflict created stories of depth and complexity. I think readers love her books because they are so real. Flaws, fears, difficult decisions, past mistakes—we all can relate to the struggle to define happiness and the struggle to find love. Her writing resonates with intelligence, a masterful command of language and history, and a true gift for storytelling.

Okay, do I REALLY have to pick a favorite? (She says with a heavy sigh.) If pressed, I guess I have to say An Unwilling Bride. For me it showcases all of Jo’s magnificent talents. She took what to most authors would have been a very difficult storyline and created unforgettable characters and crackling tension, all in such a thoughtful exploration of human nature—and then of course ended with the celebration of love as the ultimate redeeming power.

Andrea/Cara here, With the recent unoffical start of summer here in the northern hemisphere, it's time to start filling the carry-alls with great beach reads! (And for those of you heading into winter, it's always good to have a pile of good reads next to the armchair and quilt for those long chilly nights.) We have been reading a wide variety—as usual— over the past few weeks, and have a number of titles to share with you. And we hope you'll share the books that have tickled your fancy! This monthly feature is always such a fun collaboration with our readers. So, off we go!

Nicola:I love stories set in the English Civil War and wish there were more of them so I was thrilled to hear that HWW Louise Allen had updated and reissued an old Mills & Boon Historical called The Master of Winterbourne. It’s a richly detailed, complex story that is sensual and romantic, and at the same time it has a fair bit of intrigue packed in and some beautifully drawn, deep characters. Louise really brings out their divided loyalties and conflicts. Highly recommended.

Another book I absolutely loved this month is French Kissingby Lynne Shelby. Anna Mitchel has been writing letters to her French penfriend, Alexandre Tourville, for fifteen years, but hasn’t seen him since an exchange trip when they were at school and he was a shy geek. When Alex has the opportunity to work in London, Anna offers him a place to stay but is astounded that he has changed out of all recognition and is now tall, broad-shouldered and gorgeous, and has just broken up with his long-term girlfriend.

French Kissing is totally charming. The characters are great, the backgrounds of London and Paris beautifully described, and the style of writing really engaging. It’s a fun and very happy-making read!

Today, we're resuming our sadly interrupted anniversary celebration, and I have the pleasure of welcoming Eloisa James and Lauren Willig, both of whom have wonderful insights to share with us.

First up is Eloisa James, who has been a visitor to Word Wenches for both her romance and for her delicious memoir, Paris in Love. Today she ponders romance and what might lie ahead in our genre:

Eloisa James:

I read widely in romance sub-genres, with the exception of scary Romantic Suspenses. I’m just going to make a more-or-less haphazard list of the trends I’m seeing, skipping Historical because the Word Wenches have that covered. Please tell me in the comments what I’m missing or where I went wrong!!

I’m always happy to read Mary Balogh. This one is Only a Kiss. Very fine. The slow development of the relationship delights me. As always, the romance comes to us in growing trust and understanding between the two protagonists. This one is about letting go of past pain and guilt and finding new love. It’s a gently joyful book for all that as these two find each other.

For a change of pace this month, we're going to talk about good books that we've loved, but which might have fallen from view for one reason or another. This is not exactly the same as comfort reads, though there is some overlap. So here are some overlooked books that we enjoy, and maybe you will, too!

I was inspired to suggest this topic to the other Wenches when I saw that Again by Kathleen Gilles Seidel is now available as an e-book. A two time RITA winner, Kathy writes books that are subtle, intelligent, deeply observed, and dryly funny. Again is probably my favorite. The heroine, Jenny Cotton, is head writer for a historical soap opera set in the Regency, and the show's Brooklyn studio and earnest young actors are home and family to her. The Canadian hero, Alec Cameron, is a star of daytime television who was the lead in a soap series that bombed big time, so he's happy when Jenny casts him as a cranky duke.

Pretty soon Alec is falling for Jenny, who is way too loyal to her long time boyfriend, who is also in the cast. And she has a bad habit of working out her emotional issues through the characters on her show. Unfortunately, Alec's character is given all the traits she doesn't like in her boyfriend, while the boyfriend's part is sounding more and more like Alec--and Jenny won't admit it. <G> In some ways, the book is dated--no cell phones and daytime television has changed enormously, among other things--but the book is still marvelous--smart and funny and wise, and very satisfying. I enjoyed the story this time as much as when I first read it in the early '90s. You might want to take a look--Again didn't win a RITA for best single title contemporary romance by accident. <G>

Susan here, presenting our February choices for WWR—What We’re Reading—and more. Over these last wintry weeks all around the globe (in cold, balmy, rainy or hot weather!), some of us have been watching more than reading lately, from movies to TV detectives to puppies. Scroll down for our favorite picks, and let us know what you’ve been reading and/or watching lately too. And happy Leap Year today, February 29 -- especially to any Leap Year birthdays out there!

Anne Gracie:

Anne here, doing a bit of a catch-up of my reading. We ended up talking about "comfort reads" for our WWR in November, and so I never mentioned my new read of Carla Kelly's Doing No Harm, which I really enjoyed. As well this month, I've continued my glom of Robin Hobb books and have now read my way through most of her backlist. Can't wait for Assassin's Fate, which will be out in 2017. I've also finished the five Sharon Shinn "angel" series book that started with Archangel— well worth reading.

I've also been catching up on Louise Penny and have read How The Light Gets In and The Long Way Home, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. It might look as though I've read no romance this month, but actually I've been reading books for the Romance Writers of America RITA competition. But I can't talk about them, so that's all folks from me for now.

I’ll admit I was less interested in who killed whom than in the beleaguered iguana who witnessed it all. Dixie’s passionate defense of all that yowls and scratches and sheds feathers warmed my heart. Way to go, Dixie.

My other book this month is Deanna Raybourn’s A Curious Beginning. In Victorian England, Veronica Speedwell, an intrepid and liberated lepidopterist, meets Stoker, enigmatic, bad-tempered naturalist. Murder, attempted kidnapping, taxidermy, and life in a travelling circus enliven the pair’s flight through the English countryside.

Who is the criminal mastermind chasing them and what does he want? When do Veronica and Stoker make love?

​Is elephant taxidermy even possible under these circumstances?

​This is Book One in the series. We’ll find out ...

Nicola Cornick:

This month I seem to have spent a disproportionate time watching Ethel, the new Guide Dog puppy. Ethel is 12 weeks old now and very quick to learn. She has already started her guide dog training. At home, though, she is just like any other puppy and loves play and cuddles. It’s extraordinary how much time I can spend simply watching her enjoying discovering things like her reflection, or wrestling with her toys.

In between Ethel, writing and other stuff I have also managed to watch The Night Manager, the new adaptation of the book by John Le Carré that is on the BBC at the moment. It’s superb, but then I could watch Tom Hiddleston in almost anything. I have to confess that I have never read Le Carré but I have enjoyed the TV and film adaptations I’ve seen. Although I enjoy thrillers I don't tend to read spy stories yet I always enjoy watching them. In The Night Manager the plotting is tight and suspenseful, the characterisation is clear and compelling and I have fun trying to stay ahead of the twists!

Pat Rice:

I’m in another reading slump, with nothing but Jo’s fabulous The Viscount Takes A Wife to keep me going. But I have actually been watching some television. We don’t get any of the fancy channels—we have to hunt HBO shows on Netflix—so most of my TV watching is on the main networks. I’ve loved Elementary since its inception but there are two new shows that we’re following—Lucifer, and You, Me, and the Apocalypse.

Lucifer, on Fox, is based on a line from Neil Gaiman about the devil taking a vacation—a fascinating concept in itself. The show opens with Lucifer Morningstar running an exclusive bar and dance club. He has his hellish protector tending bar and an angel trying to persuade him back where he belongs because all hell is well…going to hell. Then someone gets murdered, and he wants justice—or to throw the guy in hell, that’s not real clear. And that’s the main problem with the show—the storyline doesn’t seem to be absolutely certain if the devil is evil or not. He flashes evil when he catches his victims but most of the time, he smirks and is charming enough to want to slap him. Watch a few episodes and let me know what you think.

The other show, NBC's You, Me, and the Apocalypse, is just simply brilliant—the writing, the acting, the concept… I’m totally loving it. The concept is that a meteor is about to strike the earth in 30 days and everyone is going to die. But our main hero has just discovered he has a twin brother who has made off with his wife five years ago, and he’s more interested in finding her than any comet. Then we have the innocent nun and the sardonic priest (Rob Lowe) who are searching for the savior, hoping for the second coming. If that’s not enough, we have the loving mother who has gone to jail for her hacker son, and broken out along with a crazed killer during a riot. She’s trying to reach her son, who might have the key to the whole crisis—while his uncle is busy stockpiling a bunker for the chosen few. Aw c’mon, you want to see it, don’t you? It’s high class lunacy!

Jo Beverley:

I’ll endorse You, Me, and the Apocalypse. Zany, and mostly very British. I can add that I'm enjoying a new series of Vera, a police show set in Northumberland, with a frumpy, middle-aged woman as the police chief, and she's a great, strong character. It's always nice to see something set in the far North.

A while back I mostly enjoyed The Last Kingdom, based on Bernard Cornwell's books about the early years of King Alfred's reign. It's quite violent, and Uhtred, the protagonist, is often very macho-man stupid, which I think is the point. Cornwell does no-nonsense warrior heroes very well. They don't angst over war; they get on with it and mostly enjoy it.

Andrea Pickens/Cara Elliott:

I’m not much of a television watcher, but recently a friend was needling me about missing great dialogue and plotting by not being a couch potato—and then went on to recommend a show that’s in its eighth season as something I might like, as it involves a handsome and charming bestselling crime author shadowing a very attractive female police homicide detective for “research.” I promptly went to the library to check out the first season, and now have been binge watching ABC's Castle, which I find quite fun. The dialogue is sharp and witty, and the cast of characters quite interesting. The initial banter has slowly deepened to more nuanced relationship, and the way the backstories unfold is very well done. I’m hooked.

And then there is The West Wing. Yup, never watched that either, though I had always heard good things about it (she says, ducking rotten tomatoes being lobbed at her head). So have been dabbling in that too, and greatly enjoying the ensemble acting, and the weaving of relationships. It’s fascinating to watch how screenwriters develop ideas—and I really have learned a lot about craft, as well as simply an entertaining story!

Mary Jo Putney:

Hey, no fair that Cara/Andrea got to Castle first! I don't watch actual television, but if there's a series I like, I buy the DVDs and we watch them in blessed commercial-free comfort on the weekends. We tend to watch science fiction series and mysteries with humor, but we've been on a real Castle kick lately--not the most recent episodes, but starting over from the beginning of the series just because we were running out of current episodes.

I love the fact that the eponymous Richard Castle is a bestselling mystery writer, with all the mixed arrogance and insecurity of his breed. His outside of the box thinking and ability to assemble clues into a narrative help him solve murders. I love his very smart teenage daughter and his flamboyant actress mother, who humanize him.

And I love Detective Kate Beckett, who is as intelligent as she is gorgeous and who is a perfect contrast to Castle, and an eventual love interest. There is sometimes darkness, but also a lot of wit and warmth, and very twisty plotting with masses of red herrings. Plus, there are often elements of a happy ending, which isn't true of all mystery series. There's a lovely cast of secondary characters, including Kate's team members, detectives Esposito and Ryan. All are well developed and they grow over time. Fun, even the second time around!

Susan King:

With not much reading time lately, I’ve had lots of busy family time and also some copyediting to do—which I sometimes do in front of the TV if it’s small stuff so I can hang out with The Guys in the house—so I’ve done more watching than reading in February. Like Pat, I’ve enjoyed Lucifer for its charm and wry humor, sometimes with an intriguing dark twist. Another we discovered on Hulu was Daredevil—about the comic book hero who is a blind and dedicated lawyer for the underdog by day and a tough, clever vigilante by night. I loved it, loved the character development and story twists and especially love the fascinating hero of this series. We’ll tune in for the next season!

We also watched the first season of The Expanse on Syfy—an intelligent, complex, gritty and fascinating series set in the far future when Earth, Mars and all in between has been settled as active and competitive territories. Based on the book series by James S.A. Corey, an author duo, the smart writing, layered characters and high production values make this a worthy new sci fi series with real staying power, and it’s just been greenlighted for another ten episodes. The TV fans in my house are very pleased.

What have you been reading and/or watching lately? We're always happy to add more titles to our to-be-read stacks and to-be-watched lists, too!

Nicola here, introducing this month's "What We're Reading" feature. We've had a bumper reading month on Word Wenches as a result of the holiday season and we hope you have lots of recommendations for us too, if you've had chance to read in between all the demands of the New Year! So without further ado let's turn to our reading choices.

Anne writes:

I have a fondness for Christmas stories and over Christmas I read and reread a number of Christmas novellas, including some collections by Mary Balogh and Mary Jo Putney that contained stories I'd never read. Then I embarked on a fantasy glom, Robin Hobb -- starting with ASSASSIN'S APPRENTICE and reading them in order up to FOOL'S QUEST. And now I have to wait for the next book to come out. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed them and have no hesitation in recommending them.

Then for a change of pace I read Kristan Higgins's ANYTHING FOR YOU, followed by a reread of some Loretta Chase reissues and a couple of Lisa Kleypas historicals, which I always enjoy.

Lastly I've just finished Louise Penny's THE BEAUTIFUL MYSTERY. I've enjoyed all of Louise Penny's crime novels, and realized when I read this, that I've fallen behind and there are three more new ones I haven't read. A treat in store.

Cara/Andrea here, For this month’s “What We Are Reading” feature, we decided to do a “companion” piece to last month’s “Comfort Activities”—the things we do to relieve stress when Life (as the coming holidays and all the things that can make them . . . complicated) gets a little out of control So here’s a list of some of our favorite “go-to” comfort reads—the literary equivalent of a mug of hot chocolate and a plate of fresh-baked cookies!

Nicola:Comfort reads. Just the words make me feel all warm and happy. These are the battered books on my keeper shelves that I reach for whenever I want to curl up knowing I am in for a good read. It doesn’t matter that I know the story by heart and could probably quote quite a bit of it aloud. These books never let me down.

Here are a few of my absolute favourites: This Rough Magicby Mary Stewart. I could choose anything by Mary Stewart, really, but This Rough Magic just squeaks in as my favourite as a result of the combination of exotic location, strong heroine, gorgeous hero and a life-saving aquatic mammal. Makes me cry every time in a GOOD way.

There are many Regency historicals on my keeper shelf: books by my fellow wenches, Ann Elizabeth Cree, Anna Campbell and Louise Allen amongst others but one of my stand out comfort reads is The Beau and the Bluestocking, a traditional Regency by Alice Chetwynd Ley. As with Mary Stewart, I could have chosen almost any of Alice’s books because they were amongst the first Regencies I ever read and I’ve loved them ever since. I love the trope of the clever heroine who refuses to be impressed by the fashionable fop only to discover that he has hidden depths… The Beau and the Bluestocking seems to be out of print but I see that a number of Alice Chetwynd Ley's books have been reissued in e-book and a good thing too!

Amongst the contemporary romances that I turn to when I’m looking for a comfort read are Sarah Morgan’s books (again, almost ALL of them), Sophe Page’s To Marry A Prince, the perfect fairy story and Persuade Me, by Juliet Archer. Perhaps because Persuasion, by Jane Austen, is also a comfort read for me, I absolutely adored Juliet’s modern take on the story.

Pat:I have so little time for reading that “comfort” reads could easily mean anything I’m reading right now. I bought Sharon Shinn’s latest, Jeweled Fire, because I was going to be on a plane for 19 hours and I wanted an author I knew I could trust and a book I could sink into. But I wouldn’t call it easy or mindless reading for when the brain just wants simple.

One of my favorite authors is Jayne Anne Krentz in all her incarnations, and I have lots of her books on shelves and in my e-readers, so I suppose I could call her one of my fall-back authors, ones I trust to give me a rip-rousing story with great characters and a lovely romance. Just pick one from her website and enjoy.

Susan:There's a small group of books that I will read and re-read whenever I need something comfortable and familiar and close to me - when I'm down with flu, for instance, or feeling low energy or just need to step out of the world for a bit. I'll pick up one of these so-familiar books, the ones that have been with me for years like a well-worn blanket, the books that feed and fill something in me. Mary Stewart is top of that cozy-comfort batch of books, and The Moonspinnersis truly my favorite of hers. Other than Mary Stewart, whose books have gotten me through many rough patches over the years, my short reading list also includes Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Peters' Crocodile on the Sandbank, Mary Brown's whimsical Playing the Jack, and there are a few more on the list. I treasure them all for their different strengths--sometimes it's the exquisite writing, sometimes the story and the characters, sometimes I associate the read with something important in my life. They all combine the best of what I deeply need in a book--characters that I truly love, quality writing and storytelling that means something deeper to me than the many, many books I read and enjoy, but don't need to read again. The comfort reads are deeply special books to me and I'll keep on reading them.

Mary JoNot everyone enjoys rereading a book, even ones they really liked, so I'm grateful that I'm a re-reader and can enjoy favorite books over and over. Particularly when I'm on deep deadline, I escape into my keeper shelf and often re-read whole series, such as Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan space opera series, Jayne Ann Krentz's Arcane and romantic suspense books, or Sharon Shinn's Twelve Houses or Elemental Blessings series. They're all great, imaginative storytellers and there are always satisfying endings and usually a fine romance.

And if I want humor, I might dive into my Jennifer Crusie books. Though they can be laugh out loud funny, what makes them special are the layers of subtext below the surface. A favorite of mine, Bet Me, is romantic comedy at its best, but it's also about body image and self-acceptance. And shoes. <G> The heroine Minerva, a cranky actuary whose mother is trying to bully her into becoming much thinner than her body type allows, meets Cal, who is just way too attractive for anyone's good. When she first sees him in a bar, she thinks, "Every woman in the room with a working ovary probably looked at him and thought, This one!"

And matters progress from there, with preparations for Min's sister's wedding, Chicken Marsala, an ugly cat named Elvis, and a man who is much nicer and more complicated than Min's first reaction. Did I mention that it's laugh out loud funny?

Anne:My comfort reads are usually people like Georgette Heyer and Eva Ibbotson. Others have mentioned Amanda Quick/Jayne Ann Krentz and I'm with them too; I can't tell you how often I've reread Scandal or Trust Me. There's Elizabeth Lowell's medieval Scottish border trilogy, Untamed, Forbidden and Enchanted and lately I've been digging through some of my old Johanna Lindsays.

At this time of year I like to reread a few favorite Christmas books. Trish Ashley's Twelve Days of Christmas is one I never miss rereading, and I recently bought two Mary Balogh Christmas collections, a few stories of which I'd read before, but some of which were new to me.

But I also like to balance my re-reading with fresh new exciting reads and new-to-me authors, and at this time of year I start to collect new books, ready for the holidays and some lovely self-indulgent reading time.

Joanna:I thought for a while about ‘comfort reads’ and ‘frivolous reads’ and the sort of books I can go back to and back to and they always make me smile. My ‘magic carpet’ books, as it were.

I have LOTS of these. I do indeed. I’m going to point to some old ones. Folk tales. Fairy stories. Contes De Fées. I find these fascinating on an intellectual level. They also touch my heart. I’m almost cheating because these are everyone’s magic carpet books.

When I’m enchanted by a writer like Peter S. Beagle or Tolkien, it’s in part because they’ve tapped into this tradition. Handing out recommendations, I’d suggest the Red Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang. Free at Gutenberg here. The Blue, Yellow, Brown, Violet follow in its wake. All of these are available on Kindle and Nook to rescue you from some perfectly dreadful airline delay.

As a backup to the variously colored Fairy Books . . . I was going to suggest Moldavian Folk Tales by Grigore Botezatu which delighted my own children, but I see it has not been reprinted. It appears to cost $200 used. So I’ll put it very carefully back on the shelf and suggest The Arabian Nightsby Richard Burton instead.

Cara/Andrea:I’ve got a number classic comfort reads. First on the list is Pride and Prejudice, which always guarantees a blissful few hours of smiling over Austen’s sharp observations on human nature. The friendships, the foibles, and the lovely way that love conquers all is a delight, no matter how many times I’ve read it. Like a number of the other Wenches, I also turn to the works of Mary Stewart (The Moonspinnersand This Rough Magic) and Elizabeth Peters (Children of the Storm.)

I also am a big fan of historical mysteries. The charming Charles Lenox series by Charles Finch is a particular favorite. His lovely prose has a quiet, cozy appeal, the characters and relationships are really well-wrought, and the plots are interesting and address bigger issues than the particular crime. I raced through his latest, Home Before Nightfall, in the week leading up to Thanksgiving, and it was as big a treat as as a slice of pumpkin pie!

So, what about you? What are your favorite comfort reads? Please share!

Anne here, bringing you this month's "What We're reading" in which the various wenches share their reading picks for the last month and everyone else joins in in the comments stream. Warning, it can be quite expensive. I've already bought three of this month's books.

We start with Pat Rice, who recommends Charming by Elliott James— an urban fantasy. Pat says: "I can’t remember who told me about this book, but thank you! It’s fantasy on a level with Patricia Briggs. The characterization is amazing.

The hero is an outcast from an ancient group of Knights Templar who are under a geas to protect the veil between humans and the supernatural. Because the hero’s mother was bitten by a werewolf, he has unnatural tendencies and is despised and hunted by his father’s knights. His conflicts are manifold but his sarcasm is hilarious.

Like Briggs, this is not a bloodfest nor erotica, but a strong contemporary fantasy with a fascinating stage of characters on a vampire hunt. The action scenes are beautifully choreographed and hard to skim, even though I usually skim violence the same way I do sex scenes. If you can handle another vampire hunter, check this one out."

September is a grand month for reading. We've come up with some great suggestions.

Anne here: I've been really enjoying some NA (New Adult) college stories. I've mentioned Sarina Bowen in this column several times and now I'll add Elle Kennedy to the list — they've written a few book together, which is how I discovered Elle Kennedy. Both these authors are writing fresh, fun, yet realistic stories that deal with some very serious issues faced by young people at that age, while still remaining very sexy and romantic.

Bella gets around — she's a bright, positive, lusty girl. Rafe is a hunky Hispanic boy who has been raised to respect women — which is why he's still a virgin at 20. When the double standard smacks Bella down in the nastiest way, Rafe steps in. A gorgeous story, both realistic and romantic and positive.

Another NA story set on a college campus. Hannah Wells has a crush on one guy, but an annoyingly persistent jock is after her to tutor him. They do a deal to help each other achieve their goals.

I couldn't put it down. Really enjoyed it.

Pat Rice brings us:

Neanderthal Seeks Human: A Smart Romance, is the first book written by Penny Reid. I love the brain-heavy, neurotic heroine—who has every right to be neurotic given her dysfunctional family. It’s totally a contemporary fantasy but the author’s voice is so hilarious that I kept reading anyway. Sure, it could use a lot of trimming, but who would want to trim material that contains (and I’ve seriously edited here) lines like this: “I think my alcohol-saturated forebrain lost the ability of conscious thought, but my lower brain—the Id…may have slipped my forebrain some benzodiazeprines…. I will call that part of my brain Ida.”

Anne here, interviewing my friend, Barbara Hannay about her newest book, THE SECRET YEARS. Barbara is an award-winning, bestselling author. She's written many short series romances for Harlequin, and has won several major awards, including RWA's RITA, the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award and Australia's Romantic Book of the Year Award (twice) — but in recent years she's moved into longer, more mainstream fiction.

I mentioned her book Moonlight Plains last month in What We're Reading, but her new book is something else again. It's been listed as a book of the month on iTunes-books, and Penguin Australia has given it one of their coveted "Guaranteed Great Read" medallions on the cover. The reviews are also glowing, and since there is a strong WWII thread in the book, I thought wenchly readers might enjoy meeting Barbara and finding out more about THE SECRET YEARS.

THE SECRET YEARS is set across two eras; World War II England (and other places) and modern-day Australia. As the blurb says, it "spans three generations of secrets, romance and heartbreak."

Anne: Welcome to the Word Wenches, Barbara. There are two intertwining stories in THE SECRET YEARS — a contemporary and a historical story, but since this is a historical blog, let's start with the historical one — your hero Harry and your heroine, George, aka the Honourable Georgina Lenton. Tell us about Harry and George.

Nicola here. Today I’m musing not on what we read but how we read. I first started thinking about this last month when we did the Word Wench “What We’re Reading,” when one commenter, Sue M, was talking about her reading choices that month. She explained how she had burned through a couple of new books because that was how she read. First she wanted to get to grips with the plot, but after the first reading she would go back through the books in order fully to appreciate the writing and the character development. I found this fascinating because I had never really thought about the way in which I read and whether we all do it in different ways. It really got me thinking.

For avid readers (and I am assuming that is most of us here) reading is a bit like breathing in the sense that it often feels as though it happens automatically. I sit down, I pick up a book or e-book and I read. But there’s a lot more to it than that, of course. For a start, reading isn’t like that for a lot of people who may struggle with it in the technical sense or who may not find it a very interesting occupation. Not everyone is in agreement with Jane Austen: “I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of anything but a book!”

The wenches are wading through the summer doldrums with some new and unique books!

Joanna:

I’ve been ​wanting to post about this book for a while, but I’ve been of two minds. The print book lives on my keeper shelf and I think it’s well worth recommending. But it’s ​been ​out of print for a decade and about impossible to get hold of without laying down an unreasonable amount of money.

This is Manly Wade Wellman’s John the Balladeer, ​short stories​ from the author’s Southern Appalachian tales in the Silver John mythos. They’re a little supernatural, a little fantasy, a little traditional storytelling. I find the writing evocative. ​And ... ​I’ve ​recently ​found John the Balladeer as an e-book! So I am just delighted to recommend it with the happy news that it is not only enjoyable and interesting but free. ​(​This is a legal download from the publisher.​)​ Some more of Wellman’s ​other ​short works ​ in the mythos​ are also here. ​You can scroll past his S.F. stories till you come to his Silver John works. To dive into one random story to get a taste, ​go here.

Nicola here, introducing the July What We're Reading. We all love this feature as we get so many wonderful book recommendations as a result. We hope you enjoy it too. If, like me, you're going away in a few weeks time and are looking for the next read to take with you, or if you have already been indulging in some holiday reading, this is the place to share!

Joanna:

Only one book to recommend this month. It's been a busy time altogether. The RWA National Conference was a mad, lovely, exciting week. The rest of July was spent madly writing.

Still, I did get to read Robin McKinley's, The Hero and the Crown. It's a YA that won the Newberry Medal a few years back. A princess despised and distrusted by her people steps outside their expectations and becomes a strong and magical warrior who saves the kingdom. The book is about choices and strength and what these cost.

McKinley has been a favorite of mine since I read Sunshine, her YA-vampire-not-quite-a-romance. A lovely book.

Pat:

I’ve been cruising the high seas and spending more time in the moment than reading, apparently. And I watched movies on the plane! But here’s a couple of books I can recall.

Axeman’s Jazz, Julie Smith—a mystery rich with gritty New Orleans atmosphere. The heroine is a very good, very determined cop which gives a nice spin on the usual types of humor found in hapless female detective stories. The story includes lovely layers of satire on New Orleans society— the killer is picking off attendants of 12-step programs, which to the detective’s dismay means that half the city is a potential victim.

Meredith Duran, Fool Me Twice—I went into this thinking “yawn, another book about a tortured, privileged duke.” I have a real hard time being sympathetic to dukes who have everything and still manage to whine. But Duran pulls out ALL the stops. She beats this once-decent guy into a puling lump, then torments her innocent heroine beyond reason. Even though I was fully prepared to laugh at the preposterous setup, Duran made me root for both of them. Her emotional and descriptive writing twists the heart and keeps the pages turning.

Off the Reservation, Glen Merzer—if you want a novel that literally goes off the deep end on satirizing politics, try this one. The protag is a Congressman who grabs attention by saying just what he pleases and turns his lunacy into a campaign platform, while claiming over-population is the root of all problems and that there are no solutions. The way to bring honesty back to politics!

Jo Beverley here. For a slight twist on the regular What We're Reading blog, this month we're highlighting some of our favorite research books. Some of the ones we use a lot are a bit dry or obscure, so we've each picked one or two that we think some Wenchly readers might enjoy, including some available on line.

Pat Rice.

May I take a moment to weep silently over this question? After wearing out my local library with interlibrary loans, I spent decades collecting an enormous reference library, grabbing wonderful volumes anywhere I traveled. If I was in a gift shop, I headed straight for the “local books” section. I went home from conferences with entire suitcases of reference finds.

And then I moved from a house with wall-to-wall shelves in every room to a cottage with almost no walls at all. Needless to say, I had to choose the books I valued most. This is an impossible job. I’m down to one bookcase of reference material in my office. I had to keep my fashion books because on-line resources simply aren’t as comprehensive. Nancy Bradfield’s COSTUME IN DETAIL shows me how gowns were constructed. I’ve had to tape together R. Turner Wilcox’s THE MODE IN COSTUME because I’ve worn it out. It not only gives me a wide variety of illustrations, but a detailed list of fabrics, accessories, and hair styles—all on a single page or two. I’ve yet to find an internet resource as easy to use.